Wheel design can make or break the look of a car. Even if the body shape is to die for, a set of ugly wheels can bring everything crashing down. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve avoided buying a cheap used car from Facebook Marketplace because the owner swapped on a set of ugly wheels.
I say all this because this morning, I awoke to what I’d consider the best-looking new wheels (well, technically hubcaps) of the year. French carmaker Citroën just showed off a special-edition version of its all-electric Ami quadricycle—a tiny city car that can only go 28 mph and doesn’t require crash testing. Called the Ami Dark Side, it comes with matte black paint and a reworked front fascia with new headlight locations.
Its most interesting feature is, obviously, the wheels. More specifically, the “wheel trims,” as Citroën calls them. They use a wonderfully contrasting black and white checkerboard pattern, with an offset brand logo in red. The design reminds me of a few ’80s wheels that echo the same ethos, including a set found on one of the greatest ’80s cars of all time: The Isuzu Impulse.
Isuzu Used To Sell Some Great Stuff In America
Isuzu sadly stopped selling passenger cars in the United States back in 2009, but back in the ’80s, it had a small (but incredibly cool) lineup. It consisted of a pickup truck, the wonderful front-drive I-Mark hatchback, the Trooper SUV, and the crown jewel Impulse coupe.
True Isuzu-heads will know the brand’s prettiest car, 117 Coupé, was designed by none other than Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Italian designer known for icons like the DMC DeLorean, the BMW M1, and the Lotus Esprit. The Impulse (known overseas as the Piazza) was the 117’s successor, and also designed by Giugiaro. The car had a typical three-door hatchback shape popular in the era, but a thinner, wedge-like nose and pop-up headlights gave it just that little bit more elegance. Who could forget those funky adverts featuring the legend himself, Joe Isuzu?
The Impulse’s rear-drive layout and available turbocharged engine made it a compelling performance machine. Motorweek praised the Turbo’s handling, which, by the late 1980s, had input from Lotus. They also liked the car’s braking and strong list of standard features.
I’d argue the most compelling part of the Impulse isn’t the handling, body shape, or turbo engine. It’s the wheels. The available checkerboard alloys are pure ’80s excellence, simple and fitting with the rest of the car’s shape without being too brash. Unlike the Citroën’s design, these are the actual wheels, not a set of hubcaps. The four wheel bolts are cleverly hidden within the center squares, masking them from view and sharpening up the wheel’s overall presentation.
You could argue the Impulse’s wheels were tame by Giugiaro’s standards. They were inspired by the Asso di Quadri, a series of concept wheels shown at the 1976 Torino Motor Show, designed by the firm. My favorite of the set above has to be the gold cross-hashed wheel.
Citroën Takes Things Modern
While they might not be real wheels, I’d argue Citroën’s design is a bit bolder. The black and white is a stronger contrast, matching the black paint and the white accents found with the rest of the car.
Then there’s the little red Citroën logo, there to break up the monotony. We saw a similar design from the brand on an Ami concept last year, but this one is far more interesting, since the red stands out so much from the black and white. It’s worth noting this Citroën logo is pretty new, having been introduced in 2022 to replace the simpler double-chevron design (all they really did was straighten up the chevrons and put them in a circle).
Seeing these wheels makes it all the more painful that quadricycles like the Ami aren’t sold in the United States. As a New York City resident, I’d certainly own one (or ideally a dozen, just so my friends and I can race them around at exceedingly low speeds).
We Must Pay Homage To The Past
Of course, the Impulse and the Ami are not the only cars to get checkerboard pattern wheels. Citroën’s new design also reminds me of a couple of Chevrolets. The late-’80s Chevrolet Cavalier Z24, for instance, got a set of wheels with a straight-up square checkerboard wheel nut cover for its 16-inchers.
Then there’s the fourth-generation Chevy Monte Carlo. While its wheels didn’t exactly have a checkerboard square design—the individual shapes were more like curvy trapezoids in nature and follow a circular design—the pattern was similar. Most importantly, you could get the wheels with the available T-Top convertible option:
The Ami might not be available to import to the U.S. for another 20 years, but I’m sure I can get a set of these hubcaps imported now. Now all I need to do is buy a car with some 14-inch wheels that they’ll fit on.
Top graphic image: Citroën
The checkerboard style of wheel reminds me of the excellent Saab 900 “Inca” wheels. One of the great wheel designs.
I will take any of the old checkerboard pattern wheels over most current wheels which are either all black or diamond cut. Both of those trends need to die.
I agree with the overall premise of the article, but out of all of the absolute fucking fantastic wheel designs that are emerging in this splendid era of wheel design the Citroen wheels are bland and kind of awful and whoever approved Citroen’s new logo should be ejected into low earth orbit.
Modern wheel design is just going absolutely all-in right now and this just isn’t a notably good example of it.
God they are so freaking ugly but they do match the freaking ugly car.
Go Joe Isuzu. I owned a. I Mark , an Amigo and currently daily a Vehicross
I’ll always covet your vehicross.
The Impulse was so badass, too.
Counterpoint: These are all awful. The return of 80’s wheels and “flat” designs (Hyundai/Kia are big offenders) is very unwelcome.
Wheels look best when they have depth, dish, and open spokes with visible brakes.
Counter-counterpoints:
Retro designs are always bad, then good, then bad again, then good again, ad infinitum.
See dimensional designs, flat designs, skeuomorphism, flat design, skeu…
Wheels can’t have real dish any more because of where steering geometries put the hubs.
No one needs to see your brakes.
(It’s all a matter of your taste, other people’s tastes, and the relentless shifting of tastes.)
I’ve found most 80s/90s designs can be perfected by adding a 2-3″ lip to them. It’s why I bought my AMG Monoblock knockoffs, cause they’re 17×9 and have a 3″ dish.
It’s almost like looks are subjective or something.
Just happy to see a focus on Isuzu for once.
I didn’t expect to be in the IsuZone today, but I’m not mad about it.
Long live the squares!
All I see is someone who hasn’t figured out that the square peg does not fit in the round hole.
The I-mark was RWD from 1981-1984, and front-wheel drive from 1985-1990.
The second generation was much nicer-looking, and a decent, if somewhat generic, little car. (I had one for while, which I had bought at an auction to resell. It got amazing gas mileage and was very practical.)
I has one on my first oil change no oil change shop or the dealership could find the damn oil filter
Citroen also made an AMAZING concept car I don’t think was covered on The Autopian… MADE OUT OF CARDBOARD. https://www.citroen.co.uk/about-citroen/concept-cars/citroen-oli.html The “All-E” Oli is seriously friggin cool.
Agree!
I thought those Citroen hubcaps were good looking. Then I saw the car you had to buy in order to get them. It makes the Cybertruck look like a Ferrari 250 California.
I’d buy 100 Citroens before I’d ever be caught dead in a culybertruck.
Truly horrible thing to say.
I will ever stop repeating- the Impulse is one of my favorite car designs not just of the 80’s, but ever. And, it’s the GM “T” platform. Yes people, a CHEVETTE.
It was sadly developed like a GM car, too. The initial model drove like the Chevette in an Italian suit it was. A turbo model came a couple years in, and “Handling by Lotus” a couple years after that, at which time it was finally the car it looked like, for its final model year or two.
Wow, it’s a day full of flashbacks over here. I briefly owned the Z24 pictured, convertible top and everything, in a nice Maroon/silver over tan interior; until the rods started violently knocking.
I absolutely detest every wheel pictured in this article.
When these cars (Cavalier, MC, Isuzu, etc) first came out, I HATED that squared off look.
But now I really dig it, in moderation. I especially love the ones on the Monte Carlo.
In regard to not buying a car because of ugly non-original wheels I totally agree. My gut feeling with poorly selected and fitted wheels is that there are probably other equally bad decisions that were made regarding usage habits of the vehicle or overall maintenance of said vehicle.
But on a different note if you get stuck with crappy original wheels where the chrome cracks and constantly leaks air a decent aftermarket rim is great.
I know it’s antithetical to the budget-car concept, but I want those citroen wheels to be anti-spinners or whatever they’re called–the ones that are on a bearing and weighted at the bottom so they stay stationary the the car is rolling.
Came here to say this. These would be sick floating wheels!
This makes me realize these wheels would absolutely drive me nuts in the real world where they aren’t staged to be perfectly upright. Every time you stop they’d be canted and it would annoy me.
Not only would they likely not be upright, but the front and back would be at differently positioned.
Can a Citreon actually go fast enough to get spinner wheels to spin?
Now they only have to figure out how you can actually carry two people and stuff in the thing…
France has had for years micro-cars, limited to 45 kph and, if I remember correctly 5 hp, usually diesel, which can be driven without a driving licence.
Hence the name “voiture pour les alcooliques…” (alcholic’s cars.)
Which is unfair because for many years the main buyers were widows, who had never got a licence and found themselves stranded when their husbands died.Usually made out of fibre glass they are also called “pot de yoghurt” which does not require translation…..
Common factor before Citroën and Renault with its Twizzy came along were two seats, and a huge boot / trunk. Never mind the set of golf clubs test, these could pack four golf bags…
Ligier, yes that Ligier of Formula one fame, and Aixam are the main makers.
With the Ami, if you have a passenger, the only way to carry stuff is to get the passenger to hold it.
Now the Ami, after pressure, added a hook somewhere so you can hang up a handbag.
True to form dumb youngsters love them, (helped by price) although you have to be 14 now before you are allowed on the road.
I far prefer phone dials to touch tone keypads.
Loved the Impulse, and the checkerboard alloys… I remember them well (I was driving a Mark 1 GTI at the time, a brief story about it is posted a few comments below).
The 1980s were such a great time for factory alloys. Those aftermarket BBS basketweave ones, seen on so many cars back then, were very sought-after. I have a set now on my NA Miata (from the factory, some kind of special edition) and TBH, I’m not a fan of them anymore.
Probably my favorite (factory) alloys of the 1980s were the Saab ‘Inca’ wheels, which would absolutely be worth the trouble they are to keep clean of brake dust:
https://www.rbmsaabparts.com/complete-set-of-4-genuine-saab-inca-wheels-in-15-for-saab-99-and-900-1987-_l_EN_r_183_i_4064.html
I really want to buy this set, even though I don’t own a Saab and probably never will, just on the very off-chance that I do at some point.
…I knew without even noticing the emblem these were French. They have that avant-garde look about them. The kind I don’t understand.
In fact, I get how TFS!Cell felt making his arena in DBZA. “How do all these squares make a circle?! AND WHY IS THAT ONE STILL GREEN?!”
(Or a red Citroën logo in this case.)
re: z24 wheels. i was missing a center cover from a wheel and, when driving home from a late-teenager job whose shifts ended after dark, saw another z24 in a driveway. i pulled over down the road a bit, hustled over, grabbed a center cover and went on my way. no nextdoor posts the next day, no doorbell camera footage. just me, a jerk, with 4 now-matching wheels. my (very late) apologies to you, if your next day involved no-longer-matching wheels.
Oh! It’s YOU!
I was sitting w/my sister by the kitchen window in my folks’ house one night decades ago. We hear a noise outside, and I peer out only to see a guy prying parts off of my cherry Mark 1 GTI in the driveway. Without thinking, I fling open the front door and leap down the stairs hollering. The guy takes off on foot, booking it around the corner and down the block and into the dark treeline of Kissena park. My sister (who got shin splints from the brief run) and I don’t pursue into the park, but instead return home.
When we got back to the house, I notice the bad guy had left his car parked in the street right behind mine, and (of course) it’s a Mark 1 GTI. The door is open and the keys are in the ignition. I take the keys out and call the cops. I did consider driving his car someplace (this was decades before flock cameras and ring doorbells, so it’d have been low risk) or just tossing his keys into the nearest sewer drain, but I resisted.
Eventually, the cops came, checked out his car/ran the VIN, etc… and a couple hours later who should turn up at my front door but the guy (who was about 17-18, just a bit younger than me at the time), along with his dad and a cop. Long story short: I agreed not to press charges, and his dad wrote a check for the damage (front grill, etc…).
Takeaway: if you’re ever young/foolish/stupid enough to steal parts from a car to put on your own car, at least have the presence of mind to park your car around the corner, and don’t leave the keys in the ignition.
🙂
One hopes that instilled a solid lesson into said yoot. I never did that exact thing growing up, but probably equally dumb/bad shit. Got caught once egging cars, and spent a couple hours driving around with my friend’s mom cleaning cars we remembered hitting. Was honestly worse than if it was with the cops! Never did that shit again.
wisdom, indeed 🙂
The tire says Brillantis
because it’s on a Stellantis.
Were it on a Citroën,
the tire would say Michelin.
Burma Shave
When they spin it makes this cool projected hologram effect, it looks like a razor-sharp cone.
I imported a set of Honda N-One wheel covers for my Fit’s winter wheels and am seriously considering a set of these now.
The dog bowl ones?
No, they’re the weird tri-spokes.
‘Cause I’m about to ruin
The boring sort of wheel style that you’re used to
looptid: Early 90’s hip-hop slang. A word that don’t mean nothin’.
Throw on these wheels and prepare to get busy in a Burger King bathroom!